The head of the UFC, Dana White, is sure that the former champion of the promotion in two weight categories, Conor McGregor, is set up for a trilogy with Dustin Poirier much more seriously than for their second fight, in which the Irishman was defeated by a technical knockout in the second round.
Back on Fight Island in January, Poirier scored a second-round TKO over McGregor to even their series 1-1.Now, ahead of UFC 264 on Saturday night, White says McGregor is training hard and is taking this fight a lot more seriously.
“Conor looked damn good in that first round [against Poirier]. I don’t know how well he prepared for that fight. I don’t know what he did,” White The Mac Life about McGregor. “I don’t know the difference between his training camp for that fight or this fight. I can tell you this — from what I can see, he’s taking this fight a lot more serious than he did the last fight. He’s basically shut down. He’s in his own little world doing his thing. He feels like the old Conor McGregor.”
McGregor enters this fight coming off being just 1-2 in his last three inside the Octagon. If he wants to remain a top contender, he will need to beat Dustin Poirier on Saturday night which he has promised to do by KO. White, however, knows the Irishman had to make some changes and is interested in seeing how he looks.
“Only Conor knows what Conor needs to tweak and fix and do. I can tell you this, you know Poirier is training down Florida with savages every day. He wants this fight worse than anything,” White added about McGregor-Poirier 3. “You’ve got to look at being hungry. There’s no doubt that Poirier has to be more hungry than McGregor. He wants all the things McGregor has.”